Garage roof's collapse a shock

DAVID Reid got a double shock when the roof on his two-car garage caved in from heavy snow Sunday.

The first came at 3:30 a.m. when a boom made the whole house shake.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

David Reid surveys the damage to his garage after its roof caved in early Sunday in Fort Rouge. Photo Store

The second shock came in mid-afternoon on Sunday, when the fire department came with sirens wailing to his house on Garwood Avenue in Fort Rouge. A neighbour had just noticed the damage and feared it had just happened, with Reid possibly buried inside.

No, just his car and other belongings.

"It was 3:30 a.m. There was a huge boom like 15 people were pounding on the side of the house," Reid said. "The roof was so heavy, it pulled the walls in, too."

Reid said the peaks on his house are so steep the snow has melted and run off, but the slope was much gentler on the garage, where the snow was half a metre deep.

"It was a low roof, so it wasn't a very high peak," Reid said. "It softened the wood like a sponge. It was melting quite a lot -- that's what made the wood so soft. The roof collapsed in on itself."

The force was so great the nails holding the roof to the walls pulled out, said Reid.

He's still assessing the damage and breaking the news to some friends.

One had a motorcycle stored in the garage. Another is in the middle of moving and had temporarily stored boxes full of personal effects in the garage.

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